Newsweek: America the Ignorant

[Avatard]

Silly Things We Believe About Witches, Obama, and More

http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/0...s-believe.html

[Papa_Complex]

That death panel thing drove me nuts, but I don't think that it's necessarily the fault of the average American. It drove me crazy because I was hearing it from major news outlets; "We'll end up with death panels deciding your fate, just like they do in Canada." The lack of basic subject knowledge, from groups that bill themselves as "news outlets", was truly staggering.

[Kaneman]

That's what I don't get about you Avatar....you read this stuff all day yet you still have enough hope for America to get angry and frustrated.

Its over man, America lost.

[Avatard]

Dammit Josh, I know you're right.

It kills me. I love this country. My family literally came from a nation that had military rule, and I know that I care more than most Americans, but it's perhaps because most here don't really appreciate what they have (or perhaps had, rather).

[Homeslice]

People would rather watch reality TV, play video games, and read People magazine than pay attention to what's going on in the world.

[KSGregman]

Originally Posted by Kaneman

Its over man, America lost.

It sure FEELS that way, doesn't it? I mean, the signs are everywhere....I just read this over the week-end.

http://www.parade.com/news/views/mit...ashington.html

A couple of very telling insights into his experience in Congress...

“Every boundary of decency has been crossed,” he says. “The ‘baby killer’ thing? Within 24 hours, there were websites up designed to make money off it. That’s how far afield we’ve gone. The more personal you make the attack, the more money you can make to defeat your opponent.”

“Add one more element: the very rich,” he answers. “So many good people would be proud to serve, but they wind up saying, ‘If the other guy spends $3 million, what chance do I have?’ The most money and the sharpest attacks tend to win.”

It doesn't seem like it will be long before the curtain is pulled away and we see our system for what it has truly become....that it won't be long before violence is introduced into the system....it's happened before.

http://www.unrv.com/empire/gracchi-brothers.php

The parallels are frightening...if you truly pay attention.

One-upmanship was countered with arguments and these countered with physical force. As the results at stake grew, so did the egos of the individual players. The goal of the betterment of society as a whole was lost, and victory became the only objective. As ambition and personal motivation became the predominant theme of the Late Republic, the social fabric that long held Rome (America?) together, against all odds, was being torn apart.

[Papa_Complex]

One thing that gets me, about our elected officials, is just how little we're willing to pay them. People get all up-in-arms about paying some guy, who handles the purse-strings on billions of dollars, a couple of hundred $K a year? Be realistic! If you could pay someone $500K, to save tens of billions because you get better people, wouldn't you?

[EpyonXero]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

One thing that gets me, about our elected officials, is just how little we're willing to pay them. People get all up-in-arms about paying some guy, who handles the purse-strings on billions of dollars, a couple of hundred $K a year? Be realistic! If you could pay someone $500K, to save tens of billions because you get better people, wouldn't you?

I think its because the amount we pay them seems to far exceed what they actually appear to accomplish. If there was an easy way to trace how much congresspeople really contributed to a particular accomplishment I think it would be different.

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by EpyonXero

I think its because the amount we pay them seems to far exceed what they actually appear to accomplish. If there was an easy way to trace how much congresspeople really contributed to a particular accomplishment I think it would be different.

I guess that it's a chicken and the egg situation but if you hire someone to guard a bank, but pay him like the custodian, don't be surprised when money starts going missing. It might not even be because he's stealing it. He might just be inept.

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

One thing that gets me, about our elected officials, is just how little we're willing to pay them. People get all up-in-arms about paying some guy, who handles the purse-strings on billions of dollars, a couple of hundred $K a year? Be realistic! If you could pay someone $500K, to save tens of billions because you get better people, wouldn't you?

I disagree. I think they get paid just fine, especially when you consider the perks they are able to take advantage of. Their salaries when in office are also nothing compared to what they can make once they leave government service.

In my opinion the largest barrier to attracting better people is the election process itself. It goes on seemingly forever, digs deeply in to areas many people are not really comfortable exposing to public scrutiny, requires the candidate to constantly beg for money, and the reward for success is doing it all over again soon after. Most sensible people would balk at most or all of that. The process sucks and seemingly so do most of the people who excel at it.